Lynn Rusten is the Vice President, Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). She has held senior positions in the White House, Department of State and Congress, bringing deep expertise in nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and national security policy.

Before joining NTI in March 2017, Rusten held government positions including senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff; and in the Department of State served as chief of staff for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation and as a senior advisor in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (AVC) where she led the interagency backstopping process supporting the negotiation and ratification of the New START Treaty.

In 2009, Rusten was a consultant at NTI. From 2003-2008, she was a senior professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, handling a wide range of foreign and defense policy issues. Earlier in her career, Rusten served at the Department of State and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), as the director of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and as a senior research assistant in International Affairs at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.

Rusten received an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College; an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Michigan; and a B.A. in Government with High Honors from Oberlin College.